As the U.S. economy has derailed, those colleges fortunate enough to have endowments have seen them shrink. Now more than ever, it is critical that they reconsider how they spend the income from those funds, diminished as it is. Colleges that let individual units or departments keep their own endowment revenues risk increasing the gap between their campuses’ “have” and “have-not” programs.

Congress's new attention to textbook issues, through the Higher Education Act, will bring transparency, some new technology, and new challenges to campus stores and those responsible for them, Kenneth C. Green writes.